Trade Your Busy Life for a Full One

It might not seem like it at first, but a full life looks very different from a busy life.

A busy life is …

frantic

exhausting

ineffective

stressful

diluted

scattered

A busy life distracts us from what we really care about, and who we really care about. A busy life is all about piling it on, catching up, falling behind, and waking up tired to do it all over again.

A full life is …

meaningful

thoughtful

interesting

passionate

focused

present

A full life invites us to engage in what we really care about, and spend time with who we really care about. A full life isn’t about doing it all, but falling asleep at the end of the day content with how you spent your minutes and hours and a pleasant anticipation of the day to come.

A busy life leads to jaw clenching and brow furrowing. A full life encourages you to smile and breathe. The success of a busy life is measured by check marks on a to-do list while the success of a full life is measured by what’s on your heart.

Choose a full life.

A busy life seemingly chooses us, but we get to intentionally choose a full life by identifying what matters and getting rid of what doesn’t.

A full life allows you to show all the way up for people you love, create the time and space to listen to your heart and soul, and finally connect with what matters most.

Comments

I love that you brought up the difference between busy and full. With “busy” being the new “carb” I often hear snide comments from some family members like “oh, your just soooooo busy.” We aren’t scattered or frantic – we simply have four people under one roof trying new things, passionate about their work and present in their children’s lives. There is such a vast difference being that and running like headless chickens trying to keep up with someone else. Each thing we allow in our calendar is intentional (well, maybe not a rushed work deadline but those happen) and sometimes they do stack up in ways we wouldn’t choose but its for a season – not a lifetime. I’d love to see more written about intentionally saying “yes” even if it means you look busy, but simply feel full.

Shannon, I really relate to your post. Some of us may appear to be “busy” as we have a variety of things going on. When we have many passions and chosen responsibilities I believe we have to be extra careful and attentive to stay in the energy of “full” rather than “busy”. That is my experience anyway 🙂

Hi Courtney! To me, the simple sentence – “A busy life seemingly chooses us, but we get to intentionally choose a full life” – is the heart of the message, and a point made very well. Indeed, my “busy” life seemed inevitable, until I started a pro-active course of intentionally choosing what I really care about. What a difference! Maybe it was your poster about “stop doing things that don’t matter” that kicked if off? Thanks for the on-going inspiration.

This is a wonderful post. The definition of busy life says it all that we have to avoid it as it has all the negative elements/energies associated with it. We can choose a full life instead, meaningful and intentional. We can also use some kind of a tracking system as a to-do or a check-list to see if we accomplish our tasks for the day. But that should not be the sole aim. I think, finally, how you feel when you go to bed and when you wake up is what decides whether you have a busy or a full life!

Many wear busyness like a badge of honor, but I personally hopped off the bandwagon a while ago. With a job, a family, a house, and pets, (and hobbies), it’s easy to get sucked into innumerable commitments. Instead, I weigh each one carefully, and say yes only when I have a deep feeling it fits my life plan. Putting my feet up on a regular basis fits my life plan, by the way. 🙂

(Just left a more-than-full-time job for all the above reasons, which can feel ‘selfish’ if you listen to the voice inside your head …) And definitely looking forward to the fullness-instead-of-busyness.

Last year I tried living according to Ancient Greek style virtues; making things like beauty, friendship and wisdom front and centre of all my decisions. It was the fullest and most rewarding year of my life so far. I am really looking forward to growing on that start in 2016.

I come from the “superwoman” generation where women were judged by how much they could handle. If you didn’t juggle a full-time career, raise well-rounded children, and cook gourmet dinners simultaneously, you were somehow deemed to have an unfulfilling life by societal expectations. I, for most of my life, was caught up in those expectations through my own ambition and drive, until life events jolted me into a more meaningful “me”. I love this post. It is a reminder of what matters for a truly full life experience.

I’m in the process of trading my busy life into a slowly lived lifestyle. Being busy isn’t living your life its actually missing out on living your life, missing the important moments as your not there, not present.

I have had a busy life for far too long. I am openly accepting this new challenge of having a full life. I have so often went to sleep with what I did not get done. I am looking forward to making every moment count with my family. Contentment, peace and joy are at the top of my list for this year.

I see myself trying to give myself a busy schedule so i can forget the problems. But end of day it gives me no meaning doing what I am doing. So how do I go about promoting changes within myself? Can i really chose a fulfill life?

This is so timely as I am preparing to give a workshop on decision making and using your webpage and the following books, all which emphasize the same theme.
• The Best Yes Making Wise Decisions in the Midst of Endless Demands by Lysa TerKeurst
• Rhythms of Grace Discovering God’s Temp for your Life by Kerri Weems
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
• The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working by Tony Schwartz
• Soul Keeping – Caring for the Most Important Part of You by John Ortberg

Thank you for your insight. May 2016 be a great year for all of us choosing wisely for a full life.